[action]

[chansondeleau]

[Demyx is sitting in the Traverse Hotel lobby with his belongings and looking miserable. Genuinely miserable. He stopped by the Old Man's place on the way to the hotel, the guy who took him in when Demyx came out of the Mist.

He's gone. Likely dead, according to a passerby]

Comments

[sirenspell]

[Oh hey, look. It's Demyx. Looking...completely depressed. Esme would have run over to him even if he hadn't looked so mopey, but she certainly has to now. Having no idea how grave this really is, she gives him a playful little shoulder punch.]

I know this move was all very sudden, but try to contain your excitement.

[chansondeleau]

[Demyx glances at Esme, slightly embarrassed. He remembers the Mist incident.]

Hey.

[sirenspell]

[No need to be embarrassed! What are friends for? She smiles.]

Hey.

[She sits down next to him without waiting for an invitation.]

Is this hotel really that terrible, or is there another reason you're camping out here in the lobby?

[chansondeleau]

It's not that.

[he sighs. He hates talking about 'emotions', but...Esmeralda's cool. He likes her]

I stayed in town after I got outta the Mist with an old man. No one knows where he is now.

[sirenspell]

[All her playfulness and snark immediately evaporates. Her expression quickly becomes truly worried, though she keeps her voice calm.]

Are you certain? Did you ask enough people?

[chansondeleau]

The lady next door said he just vanished, and her customers agreed.

[sirenspell]

[Her mind runs through all the usual reasons someone would leave without warning. She hopes she doesn't offend him by asking the obvious, but it has to be asked.]

Can you think of any reason he would have to leave? Somewhere he would have to be, someone he would need to check on?

[chansondeleau]

Nope. He said everyone in his family died a few years ago.

[No offense taken, he's just depressed as hell]

[sirenspell]

[She doesn't want to lose hope - there could still be an explanation for this. But she feels the weight of his words.

Her voice is gentle when she speaks.]

He was kind to you?

[chansondeleau]

He was the one who let me live with him after I got outta the Mist. So, yeah, you could say he was nice to me.

[sirenspell]

Do you...have any ideas as to what might have happened?

[She's almost afraid to ask this; she's not encouraging thinking or assuming the worst.]

[chansondeleau]

The Mist.

[Demyx, unfortunately, is thinking the worst]

S'the only reason he'd leave without a note.

[sirenspell]

[That might be true, but she doesn't want to rule out the possibility that he might be alive just yet.]

You should look for him - I'll help you.

[chansondeleau]

Where? This town's not that big. You can't go to the bathroom without someone else knowin'.

[sirenspell]

[She'd have to see someone's cold dead corpse before giving up hope and pronouncing them done for (and even then, she'd insist on checking for a pulse herself), so she's not quite convinced. But right now, that doesn't matter. What matters is Demyx. This is his loss.]

I'm sorry.

[chansondeleau]

S'fine. It's not like I expected him to stick around for too long.

[Really, he didn't. He wouldn't have.]